


Running Start

by DecemberCamie



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, Soulmates, high schoolers being stupid, you know the drill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-01
Updated: 2018-04-27
Packaged: 2019-02-09 05:06:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12880785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DecemberCamie/pseuds/DecemberCamie
Summary: “Wanna try, Killua?” Gon asks, breathless and grinning despite being tossed to the dirt less than thirty seconds ago.Killua tears his gaze away from Gon’s bright face to the open field in front of him. A crowd of students are scattered around in an uneven circle, all cheering loudly as a boy and girl take their places on opposite sides of the ring.“I’d need to know what the hell is even going on before I agree to anything,” Killua says, exasperated, and Gon’s grin only grows. “Why are you all hurling yourselves at each other like that?! You’re lucky you didn’t get your front two teeth knocked out!”Gon laughs. “Don’t be silly, Killua! It’d be impossible to hit each other; you'd have to be soulmates for that to happen!”(In a universe where a person cannot physically kiss someone who isn’t their soulmate, a class of idiotic high schoolers spend their free period running towards each other to see who could get the closest before the universe repels them)





	1. Running Start

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by a soulmate au prompt on tumblr. Here's the full prompt:
> 
> 'Soulmate au, where a person cannot physically kiss someone who isn’t their soulmate, like they’re repelled by the forces of the universe.  
> Can we please talk about how much fun teens would have as they tried to see who could get the closest to kissing before the universe repelled them?  
> Like people getting running starts and stuff?  
> Now let’s imagine a pair getting a running start and then not getting repelled, so they crash right into each other.  
> Their classmates help them up and they just kind of stare at each other with bloody noses like, “Oh.”'

_High schoolers are stupid,_  Killua thinks to himself with a scowl. High schoolers are stupid, and that’s not even a lie his mom or Illumi made up to keep him locked up in their stuffy mansion and under their claws for the past ten years. No, high schoolers are just naturally stupid, plain and simple, and the proof is right in front of his very two eyes.

“Wanna try, Killua?” Gon asks, breathless and grinning despite being tossed to the dirt less than thirty seconds ago.

Killua tears his gaze away from Gon’s bright face to the open field in front of him. A crowd of students are scattered around in an uneven circle, all cheering loudly as a boy and girl take their places on opposite sides of the ring. The boy is stretching his legs, the girl already squatting low with her palms pressed flat against the grass. 

“I’d need to know what the hell is even going on before I agree to anything,” Killua says, exasperated, and Gon’s grin only grows. “Why are you all hurling yourselves at each other like that?! You’re lucky you didn’t get your front two teeth knocked out!”

Gon laughs. “Don’t be silly, Killua! It’d be impossible to hit each other.”

Killua raises an eyebrow at him. He knows Gon isn’t the smartest kid in their grade but really? “How’d you figure that out? Physics work the same for everyone, Gon.”

Those golden eyes are shinning with mirth now. “Physics doesn’t work when it comes to people who aren’t soulmates, Ki-llu _-a."_

Killua’s jaw drops. “Oh.” 

He feels his cheeks warm in embarrassment at the realization- how could he have forgotten something so  _obvious-_  but Gon doesn’t mention his mistake. The sun-kissed teen just rocks on his heels as a warm breeze sweeps around them, humming in confirmation what Killua already knows. “Mhm.” 

They don’t say anything for a while after that. The crowd of students start to countdown for ten, both the boy and girl from earlier in their places now. They take off at a sprint when the countdown hits zero and fly towards at each other at a break-neck speed.  

They make it until they’re about a foot apart. And then—

_BANG!_

The crowd shrieks as the boy and girl go flying back towards the directions they came. Laughter errupts in all directions, followed closely by cheers, and then Gon turns to Killua.

“So?” he says, all excitement and adrenaline-flushed cheeks and sparkling eyes. “Wanna try it out?”

Killua’s heart stutters, then kicks into overdrive. “I, uh…”

What should he say? If he goes along with this, what will it prove? What if they’re repelled from each other like everyone else, and the connection Killua’s felt for the past year since the day he met Gon was all made up in his head? What if they  _weren’t_ repelled? What would that mean?!

Just thinking about it makes Killua’s head spin in dizzy circles. But that’s nothing new—Gon did that to him just about every day.

Gon’s expression sharpens and narrows, his lips twisting into a smirk. “What’s wrong, huh? You  _scared?_ ”

 And just like that, Killua’s hesitance evaporates.

“Shut up and get to the other side of the circle before I toss you over there myself,” he snaps and stomps away. He can hear Gon’s startled laughter behind him and ignores the rush of heat through his body. 

He’s just going to do this and be done with it. No big deal. If everyone else could do it, so could Killua. The fact that Gon was the person he was running to shouldn’t make a difference.

Killua pushes his way past the rows of students until he breaks through to the center of the circle. He can see Gon on the opposite side, still smiling that idiotic smile. His friend waves and Killua sticks up his middle finger in response, making Gon double over in laughter once more.

“TEN!”

Killua jolts. Shit. They're starting already?

“NINE! EIGHT—”

Killua curses under his breath. He rolls his shoulders, drops the jacket tied around his waist and lowers himself into a starting position. 

“—SIX—”

He watches Gon do a few quick stretches before jumping down to mirror Killua. He grins at Killua and Killua narrows his eyes. Gon better be ready to run like his life depends on it, because there is no way in hell Killua is holding back.

“—THREE!”

Energy rushes through Killua’s limbs.

”TWO! ONE!”

Blue locks on gold. Then—

_“ZEROOOOO!”_

Killua takes off. Wind tears at his hair and the ground flies under his feet. He can’t even feel the impact of his sneakers hitting the dirt he’s moving so fast. All he can see is Gon’s blurry outline zooming towards him at the speed of light. 

Killua squeezes his eyes shut and readies himself for the repel. 

_BANG!_

Pain explodes in Killua’s nose and forehead. He crashes to the ground, head slamming against the hard surface with enough force for him to see stars. The sharp, iron taste of blood is in his mouth and his ears ring. Everything hurts and Killua is gasping for air- he didn’t expect  _pain_ to be involved with the repel, why is this happening, what—

His vision focuses and then he stops breathing at all.

Because Gon is on the ground  _with_  him, not even a foot away. His tan skin is smeared with scarlet blood oozing from his nose and his golden eyes are blown wide in shock. A bruise is already forming between his eyes and Killua’s heart stops.

Gon isn’t on the other side of the circle.

Gon hadn’t been thrown away from Killua like all the other kids who weren’t soulmates had been.

Gon is hurt, like Killua is hurt, because they had run at each other, expecting to be repelled but they  _weren’t,_  they  _hadn’t,_ they had collided into each other head first, and that could only mean…

Killua whispers between barely moving lips, “Holy shit.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this thing last night and I ended up liking it a lot? So I decided to make it its own little story on here! It's short but I hope you enjoyed it ^^ thank you for reading!
> 
> [(Here's the original post)](https://decembercamiecherries.tumblr.com/post/168063747623/soulmate-au)
> 
> [[My tumblr]](https://decembercamiecherries.tumblr.com/)


	2. Standing Still

“There,” the nurse says, a satisfied look on her face as she leaned back. “That should do it. But don’t go off running into walls anymore, young man! You might get something worse than a bloody nose next time.”

Killua watches from his end of the bench while Gon carefully touches his bandaged bruised nose. _There’s a furrow in his brow,_ Killua notes. _A frown on his lips_. It makes Killua want to reach out, to rub his thumbs along the wrinkles until they fade into warm sun-kissed skin—

Killua looks back down to his lap quickly, ears burning. He has to curl his hands into white-knuckled fists to keep himself in check, and he only distantly hears Gon say, “I wasn’t running into walls, though!”

“Oh, no?” the nurse sounds amused now. “What were you two doing to get yourselves so banged up, then?”

Killua’s heart gives a little lurch. He starts, “We were—”

“—running at each other!” Gon finishes, to Killua’s absolute horror. “You know, for the soulmate repel? And, um...”

Gon steals a glance at Killua. His cheeks are dusted the lightest shade of pink as he says, “And, well...we weren’t repelled.”

Something warm and giddy rushes through Killua at Gon’s confession. Soulmates. He and Gon, they—they were _soulmates_. Bound together by an invisible red string of fate, their lives connected by something so sacred that no one could touch it.

They were soulmates. And no one could take that away from them.

The nurse, on the other hand, seemed shocked by what Gon had said. “S-Soulmates?” she stutters out. “Oh, but—you’re both so young! To have found each other at this age, is…”

Her voice trails off and Killua narrows his eyes.

“Is there something wrong with that?” he asks, a little too sharply, and the nurse’s gaze darts to him.

“No, of course not.” She shakes her head. “Not at all. It’s just very unusual. But—” and then she smiles at them warmly, “—this just means you two must have a very strong bond.”

“What do you mean?” Gon pipes up with bright, curious eyes.

“It’s not proven, of course, but it’s rumored that the earlier you find your soulmate, the stronger the connection between the souls.”

Killua’s cheeks grows warm at that. He stares pointedly at the nurse, refusing to acknowledge the heavy press of Gon’s stare on his face. Gon has as much subtlety as a gunshot, sometimes. And it should be embarrassing, having someone look so intently at him like that, but right now Killua’s ears are ringing with the nurse’s words and his heart is beating at twice its normal speed.

Is this what it felt like, to be so close to your soulmate and _knowing_ it was them? For once Killua wishes he’d thought to ask his parents how they met—

“Besides!” the nurse claps her hands together and Killua jumps, startled. “If you two are soulmates then there’s paperwork that must be filled out!”

Killua blinks at that, and Gon repeats, “Paperwork? What kind of paperwork—?”

“Oh, just the usual soulmate classification stuff! It’s important that the school knows you two are together, now. There’s protocol for soulmates in the same school, you see.”

Killua scowls. He didn’t _‘see’_ anything! He’s still too riled up from discovering he actually has a soulmate—not that they were super rare or anything, but finding your soulmate is completely different than wondering if they were out there at all—and the thought of filling out a bunch of complicated forms just makes his head start to pound.

“Do we really have to—” he begins but the nurse is already bustling towards the door.

“Just stay here while I get everything sorted out!” she says cheerfully as she edges out of the room. “I’ll be back in just a few minutes! Don’t try running at each other again while I’m gone, boys.”

The door clicks shut behind her before Killua manages to do much more than stammer. And then it’s just him and Gon, the quietness left behind by the nurse stifling and somehow loud enough to swallow them whole.

Anxiety claws its way up Killua’s throat as the silence stretches on. He can’t bring himself to even glance in Gon’s direction. The knowledge of what they mean to each other weighs heavy on his mind and heart, making his throat close and his mouth dry.

He’d never fully believed in soulmates. And yet, he’d found his all the same.

“Killua?”

He stiffens at Gon’s quiet murmur of his name. “Y-Yeah?” he asks and inwardly curses himself when he stutters aloud.

 _Calm down, stupid,_ he scolds himself. _It’s just Gon._

“Killua, I’m...I’m so glad it’s you.”

Killua sits up straight at that. He snaps his head around to gape at Gon, eyes wide, only to find Gon already looking back at him. The emotion in Gon’s gold irises is warm, tender. Soft. It does something funny to Killua’s heart and he swallows thickly as he tries not to drown in it.

“What do you mean?” he manages to ask and Gon smiles.

“Exactly that. I’m so glad _you_ are my soulmate, Killua. I wouldn’t want it to be anyone else.”

Killua sucks in a shuddering breath as heat rushes to his cheeks. He knows he’s blushing and it only makes him turn darker.

“Y-You shouldn’t say stuff like that, jeez,” he grumbles and Gon laughs lightly. “It’s embarrassing, seriously.”

“No, it’s not! Not if I’m with you, at least.” He pauses, as if contemplating something. “Hey, Killua?”

“What?”

“Do you think...we could try kissing, maybe?”

Killua feels his eyes bulge. He squeaks out, “Wh- _What?!_ Why are you—I don’t— _”_

“I was just thinking!” Gon says, cutting Killua’s protests off easily. “I’ve never kissed anyone, before! The soulmate repel kind of prevents that, you know? But that must mean _you’ve_ never kissed anyone, either. Because the only person you could actually kiss would be me. Since we’re soulmates.”

Gon’s voice is full of joy by the time he finishes speaking. It’s not hard to see the happiness radiating from him—Gon is practically glowing right now, like he’s some kind of sun in teenage form. And all Killua can do is stare back, butterflies fluttering in his stomach and a nervous twist in his gut.

Gon wants to...wants to _kiss him?_ For real? Kissing on the lips is almost considered a sacred form of affection, after all; only soulmates could do it, and that's why it was so cherished.

And Gon wanted to kiss _Killua._

“Y-You mean.” Killua wrings his hands in his lap while Gon’s gaze stays locked on his scarlet face. “You want to kiss _now?”_

“Yes!” Gon scoots closer, until his kneecaps are brushing Killua’s legs. “Don’t you want to, too?”

“I—I’ve never thought about it, before?”

“So you _don’t_ want to, then?” Gon’s brow puckers again, to Killua’s immediate horror. “I mean. I won’t force you to do anything, Killua, but...aren’t you just a little bit curious what it feels like?”

Killua’s heart lurches. His eyes dart down before he can stop himself, landing on the perfect curve of Gon’s lips, the hopeful smile there.

He’s much more than a little bit curious. Especially since kissing Gon is something he’s been dreaming about for, well, for longer than was good for his health, probably.

But he doesn’t have to dream about it, now. Nothing is holding him back anymore. The dull ache in his forehead and across the bridge of his nose is more than enough evidence for that.

“Won’t it hurt you?” Killua asks weakly and hope flickers across Gon’s face.

“No, I don’t think so! We’ll just have to be careful, I don’t want to hurt _you_ again, either.” He tilts his head to the side, an excited half-grin tugging at the corners of his mouth. “Does that mean you wanna try it, Killua?”

Killua scrunches up his nose. “Do you really have to ask me that? We’re soulmates, doofus.”

Gon’s grin is back in full force now, blinding in its radiance. “I know! But maybe you don’t wanna kiss. Maybe you’re not into that kind of stuff, you know? So I _do_ have to ask!”

Killua’s skin is radiating heat now. It’s touching how thoughtful Gon is, really. But at the same time, his questions are making Killua’s skin crawl with mortification. He never expected to have this kind of conversation with his best friend at the age of _seventeen,_ dammit— “Gon, you. You don’t have to worry about that.”

Gon straightens. “No?”

“No.” Killua runs a nervous hand through his hair and purses his lips at the scuffed title under his feet. “I, uh. I’m one-hundred percent okay with the k-kissing thing. If you want to, at least.”

A warm, calloused hand touches his jaw and Killua sucks in a sharp breath. He lets Gon slowly turn his head, until ocean blue meet shimmering gold.

Gon’s expression softens even more. “I definitely want to,” he murmurs, voice dipping low. “Kissing you would be…”

“Fate?” Killua jokes, starting to lean towards his best friend—towards his _soulmate._

Gon chuckles lightly. Killua feels his breath fan across his own pale skin, and tries his best not to shiver in anticipation.

“Something like that,” Gon whispers as his face grows ever closer. Killua’s heartbeats are thudding lightning-fast in his chest, like a bird trying to escape. He can’t look away from the freckles scattered across Gon’s perfectly round cheeks, that button nose, those eyes that glow like twin suns.

He feels Gon’s mouth press gently against his and lets his eyes close. There’s no resistance to the careful, slow movements of their lips. There’s no repel when Gon’s other hand moves to cup Killua’s jaw or when Killua’s fingers entangle themselves in Gon’s coarse spikes. It’s just them—just Gon and Killua—kissing each other lightly, unpracticed but with the awe of two people who’ve wanted this for a long time.

Killua’s never kissed anyone before. He doesn’t know how to kiss Gon properly to show him how much Gon means to him, how beyond thrilled and overjoyed he is that Gon is his to keep for as long as they live.

Besides, it’s not like Gon is experienced in kissing, either. But Killua can tell just how delighted he is from the way Gon smiles into the kiss, the thrilled hum of his lips. Gon’s thumbs brush Killua’s pink-stained cheeks and Killua’s chest feels full and light and _happy._

Gon was already Killua’s best friend before they literally crashed into each other head-first. Learning that Gon is his soulmate only makes his fondness for the freckled teen grow and swell into an overwhelming adoration, an overwhelming love.

Gon is Killua’s soulmate. And Killua wouldn’t have it any other way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 4/27/18  
> I've known for a while that I wanted to do a part two of this fic, and four months after posting the original chapter here we are!
> 
> I'm taking a break from my hiatus to post this since it's Togashi's birthday! ^^ I just happened to write this last night and I figured now was as good a time as any to post. I hope you all enjoyed this second part just as much as the first! Thank you for all the lovely comments and kudos and bookmarks this fic has received <333
> 
> [[My tumblr]](https://decembercamiecherries.tumblr.com/)


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